To mark MuseBlog’s 10th anniversary, we’d like to celebrate the kaleidoscopic variety of stories that we’ve told ourselves and one another here: RRRs, RPGs, SSSSs, and other projects too numerous too mention.
Well, not too numerous, we hope, because we’d like you to help us track them down and list them below. Yes, they’re juvenilia; of course, you’d probably write or improvise them differently today. But a lot of them are simply amazing, and it’s high time someone compiled a comprehensive index. And it not we, who?
Users’ Manual: Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!
Please add links to the MuseBlog Cycle below:
Pie Wars
Like them or not, they are our Iliad. In roughly chronological order:
– Unending Pie War:Â https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=252
– Pie Wars, Part 4 [the “Great Pie Warâ€]: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=352
– Pie Wars, Part 5 [the “Great Pie War,†continued]: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=374
– New GAPAs on Board / Pie War: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=505
– Classic Pie War, Part 1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1072
– Classic Pie War, Part 2: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1098
– No, This Is the Pie War, 2007.2, Part 1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=989
– No, This Is the Pie War, 2007.2, Part 2: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1019
– No, This Is the Pie War, 2007.2, Part 3: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1067
– No, This Is the Pie War, 2007.2, Part 4: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1125
– No, This Is the Pie War, 2008, Part 1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1194
(That one was so violent that the GAPAs intervened to stop it, imposing peace.)
– The Peace of Zemtee, Part 1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1127
– The Peace of Zemtee, Part 2: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1206
The Chronicles of Museica
Prequel: After the devastation of the Great Pie War, the survivors labored to rebuild civilization. Then the saga continued, in 10 parts:
– 1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=442
– 2: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=473
– 3: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=558
– 4: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=739
– 5: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=917
– 6: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1054
– 7: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1299
– 8: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1401
– 9: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1469
– 10: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=4148
Ships’ Logs: Beyond Museica
– Part 1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=446
– Part 2: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=481
– Part 3: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=551
– Part 4: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=601
– Part 5: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=628
– Part 6: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=736
– Part 7: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=865
– Part 8: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=977
– Part 9: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1066
– Part 10: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1131
– Part 11: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1259
– Part 12: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1385
– Part 13: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1555
– Part 14: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=6219
Stupid Senseless Smiley Stories
– 2006.1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=183
– 2006.2: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=525
– 2007.1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=633
– 2007.2: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=782
– 2007.3: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=929
– 2007.4: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1022
– Round-Robin Smileys, Part 1 (November 2007): https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1104
– 2008.1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1179
– 2008.2: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1370
– 2008.3: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1461
– Round-Robin Smileys, Part 2 (September 2008): https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1480
– 2009: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=3634
– 2010: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=6391
– 2011: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=8293
– 2012: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=11795
ibcf’s list of favorite SSSSs: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=11795#comment-492050
NaNoWriMo novels:
– Ebeth’s novel, 2006 (yes, the whole thing): https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=593
RRR: Fractured Fairy Tale:
– Part 1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=799#comment-103096
– Part 2: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=962
RRR: Worst. Story. Ever. (2011-2013)
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=10375
RRR: The Etheterre Chronicles (2006-2010)
– Part 1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=528
– Part 2: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=652
– Part 3: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1003
– Part 4: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1167
– Part 5: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=3947
RRR: The Sea Roc (a.k.a. Captain Pye & Co.) (2007-2010)
– Part 1: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=766
– Part 2: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=837
– Part 3: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1013
– Part 4: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1213
– Part 5: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1412
– Part 6: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=3724
Robert’s Muse/Harry Potter Crossover Fanfiction
– Part 1 (the Muses rout the Minister of Magic): https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=52
– Part 2 (Feather has a tête à tête with Fleur Delacour): https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=92
– Part 3 (Mimi helps Draco Malfoy): https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=4679
First post!
The PoPoPo fines you 10 choklit points.
While we’re getting nostalgic, does anyone remember how many MBers it takes to change a lightbulb?
what have i UNLEASHED
Mwahaha.
oh no why is mine the only nanowrimo
oh no why am i suddenly rereading my novel from 9 years ago
wow i just barely remember this i feel so old
There may be other Nanowrimo novels here; I just haven’t had time to find them. That’s why I need help.
As a side note, I’ve decided that instead of doing any of the things that are my responsibilities, I’m going to go work a tiny bit on my 2014 NaNoWriMo. So thanks!
found a few more, but they’re in google docs and i don’t have access to them – maybe the GAPA account does?
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1575
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1107
Aw, this is really sweet.
Yay, Museica! Ships’ Logs! The Pie Wars! I was there for some of them.
How about Round Robin Smileys? That was always my favorite.
ibcf:
Round-Robin Smileys have now been added to the list.
Thanks! Eek, a lot of my posts are pretty embarrassing though.
If it helps, I made a full list of pie war threads on Best of the Blog a while back.
As I’ve made a habit of chronicling my musical adventures and achievements with you all, it’s worth noting that I was recently chosen to play a baritone solo in my marching band show. I… I can’t believe I made it, actually. There’s a much more experienced trombone player in my section and we both played the solo and the band director chose me because he liked how I played it better. Brass isn’t even my primary instrument- I’m a tenor sax player. It’s… such a huge honor. And a huge responsibility. And I get to flat-out sprint across the field to the front sideline, which is awesome. Wow.
Section-leaderly duties are going okay. I got a ton of compliments on the shirts I made. One of the freshmen has started calling me ‘Mom’. Another bought me cookies for hosting a section dinner. Another is my sister, and the fourth constantly browses reddit and is very cynical but I see lots of potential in him. We have a new sophomore who I feel I’ve really connected with. Our other sophomore is in India. Our juniors have matured nicely since I first met them. And the seniors… they’re my friends, my comrades, my supporters and my partners in crime. Except when they’re being unnecessary cynical. We have our ups and downs.
But yeah, life is throwing all sorts of terrible and wonderful things at me right now and I’m very emotional. <3
Congratulations on being chosen for the solo!
Where would SSSSs fit into the great literary achievements of MuseBlog?
We invented them! We’ll certainly want to list the classics, little green emoticon.
Right, links to all the SSSSs have been added to the main page. I had fun going back to look at them. They’re really good!
(Fern’s own immortal classic is on SSSS 2007.4.)
“Immortal classic”
That’s such a generous description of my 15 year old self’s sleep-deprived lunacy.
Never underrate 15-year-olds (or sleep-deprived lunacy, for that matter).
I haven’t said anything in awhile which is rather strange of me, perhaps I’ve finally calmed down… Or not. Anyways, I just feel like posting something, please don’t steal this, it all belongs to me. *points to what is below these words*
“Why does everybody hate me? Am I really too different to be loved?” – Timber Gold Wolf
In Timber’s world, anything is possible, including having a human mom and a wolf dad. Timber Gold Wolf is a young teen who’s mother was raised by a pack of wolves. What makes Timber different from most people is her very wolf like features. Pointed golden wolf ears sticking up from her long golden hair, a golden wolf tail, being able to transform into a wolf while running, and her wolf like personality. Though she may seem brave, she’s rather shy around other people because they tend to tease her. One day, however, everything changes when she meets the new boy at school, Pinecone. Pinecone protected Timber from anything that came along and eventually, they begun to travel together visiting new realms and discovering more about who they really are.
Another RPG project(s) to add to the list: Bunny Melee, followed by Bunny Apocalypse, and Bunny Apocalypse: TNG. Ignore the attempted Reboot, as that did not last very long.
In other news: After a crazy week, and a particularly crazy 48 hours on Thurs/Fri of last week, it is official: I have an apt!
Mazel tov!
I agree; the BA saga was quintessential MB reading for me.
eternal dilemma: I should be learning to play violin but all I want to do is binge-watch trashy exploitative reality competition shows.
(full confession: I have practiced while watching tv before. I put it on mute and turn on closed captions.)
I’ve got a photo of my violin teacher practising at home in front of a tennis match on TV (I obtained it from his daughter, who is a friend of a friend). You’re in good company.
Does anyone here watch ASMR videos? I only learned about them today, and I experimentally watched one (somebody wrapping presents) for a little while. Weirdly I do seem to get ASMR feelings — tingly feeling a bit like being tickled and a bit like having an itch, mostly on my upper back — but I don’t find them at all enjoyable. Is that a thing at all? Anybody else experience this stuff and know more about it than I do?
I’ve been known to watch them, and I agree that the sensation is more uncomfortable than enjoyable, but I’ve heard otherwise from a lot of people.
Renaissance Faire weekend one complete! It got up to about 100 on Saturday and about 95 on Sunday so unfortunately there were some health problems going around but everyone made it out okay. I inhaled more dust than is advisable but in general had a lovely time, all our performances went wonderfully, I got photographed, and made new friends. Also I got to fire cannons some this year and it was wicked fun and makes me feel important, haha
A week ago yesterday I fell down a companionway at work and hurt my toe, and since it’s still sore I’m wondering if I might have actually broken it instead of just twisted/sprained/wrenched it. I don’t want to go get it checked out because I’m useless at adulting, but I’m really tired of limping everywhere.
Tape it to the toe next to it?
clearly the solution is to amputate.
That seems toe-tally reasonable.
I found a place in a beard town that sells bubble tea! And I got a card I can redeem after ten purchases!
Dad: Can you turn the TV up?
Me: Okay.
Dad: Can you hand me that thing?
Me: Okay.
Dad: Can you help me with this?
Me: Okay.
Dad: Can you change your clothes?
Me: Why?
Dad: For god’s sake can’t you do a single thing I ask you to do at least once?!
Dads are like that…
i`m uot shopping w my mom and she`s bought like 5 different kinds of sweets for me and my brother. this is rly weird.
She’s trying to bribe you- quick, ask for a car!
i just hint (of course with no subtlety whatsoever) at what i want- i`m cake at asking for things. thankfully my mother seems to be in a benevolent and hint-taking mood.
I just realized something that I always knew, but it just hit me right now: I know Robert Coontz.
Really? Do I know you?
But… But… *sobs*
Oh, I see! I thought you meant that we knew each other off the blog — that I’m your cousin, or went to graduate school with your parents, or owe you money, or something. Hence my confusion. Sorry about that.
(Unless you really did mean something like that, in which case I’m really confused.)
Oh, ok. I was just thinking that I’ve lived years of my life reading Muse, and every time I got to the Q and A section, I wondered who that “Robert” guy was who answered all the questions. I almost sent in a couple questions (for example, why doesn’t light create a sonic boom, etc). Now, of course, we’re on a first name basis (right?). It’s just really crazy to think about, now.
Noah, why don’t you send your Qs to Lizzie Wade? I’m sure she’d love to A them.
mmh yeah. i bet she`d love to A your Qs.
I think you’re gonna need some cold water for that burn, Noah.
Mercy, please. I didn’t mean it that way at all.
I know, I just thought it was funny.
Today during our trawl we caught (along with a large flounder and a bunch of sea squirts) a seahorse and a tiny little squid! The squid was dead though, and since we don’t generally find them in the New York harbor, it was probably used as bait by other fishermen. But it made me think of all of you!
Mom bought a fake leather vest for me as a surprise, and if you zip it all the way up, it looks like it has a Nehru collar. If I wear it with my safari shirt underneath and my goggles, it looks very Steampunk! Now with boots and the right pants, I might have a whole outfit.
Still living without internet in the apt (I have to go over to the university campus to borrow their wifi; luckily it’s only a 5 minute walk.) But the very good news is a) I HAVE A BED THAT DOESN’T DEFLATE UNDER ME and b) THE STOVE AND OVEN ARE NOW CLEAN AND READY FOR USE!!!! I devoted most of today to getting it clean and able to be cooked/baked in. When I lifted up the stove top it was clear that no one had ever cleaned under there before. Very gross. Microwave is also cleaned out. The cabinets and drawers, while technically clean, still contain crumb residue and there are food stains on the doors, plus some have this icky lingering smell of burned sour garlic. If garlic can be sour. So I would really like to give all of the cabinets a wipe down, and the floor desperately needs a mop. Luckily my second roommate has lots of Swiffer supplies, as well as many bottles of various cleaning solutions.
On a somewhat unrelated note, in the spirit of all of those various diet regimes advertised around, here’s my own, created over the past three days:
1) move out of the house
2) move to a place where you have to walk everywhere
3) have a very limited budget
4) live off of pb&j sandwiches, milk, honey-nut cheerios, sardines, and some fresh fruits and veggies.
5) drink lots of water, which shouldn’t be very difficult as it is HOT outside.
6) skip a meal because you didn’t have time to eat it (this last one I really don’t recommend doing on any sort of permanent basis. Or even at all.
last night i went to bed at 2am and decided to do a bit of in-bed tumblr scrolling on my phone (its a rly bad habit i know) before sleeping. i woke up this morning like “where tf is my phone, why isn`t it in its charger” and after looking around found it next to my pillow, open to the same page i was on last night.
(this is the worst story ever, it has no punchline. w/e)
this sounds disturbingly similar to my life
I’m so familiar with the lead actor’s voices that I can’t listen to “Grace and Frankie” without thinking that it’s somebody’s crossover fanfic about Charlie Skinner marrying Jed Bartlett.
my bedroom`s been a mess for months, but two weeks ago some glitter got spilled and now everything`s glittery and i don`t know what to do
whatever you do, don’t try to vacuum it up unless your vacuum works really well because otherwise it will go EVERYWHERE. I suggest a damp cloth and a lot of patience and never using glitter again.
not that I know any of this from personal experience or anything
You guys! The FBI released the security footage from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum the night before the robbery 25 years ago and it shows a guard letting someone in! They think this means that guy was in on it and that this was a dry run. They also said that the prime suspects are dead and that their primary focus now is on recovering the art…
The reward for info leading to the recovery of the stolen paintings is five million dollars, so… you might want to go to Google Images and familiarize yourself with what they look like and then check your attic.
Feeling lonely… But anyways, I’m trying to get a good Holloween costume for this year, but all the costumes for characters I like are really ugly or don’t have the right pieces included. I’m trying to see if I can find any Tails the Fox or Christopher Thorndyke(From Sonic X) costumes. XD I know, it’s kind of weird that I want to dress as a boy, but I’ve been doing it every year for awhile now. People at doors actually think I’m a boy when they see my costume.
Sorry for rambling and saying stuff that isn’t important.
Hey, this is the random thread after all! And for the record, I don’t think it’s weird at all to dress up as characters of a different gender.
Oh wow, I guess Halloween is a couple months away now. Seems only yesterday it was April…
Could anyone out there tell me if there is a word out there – preferably an adverb – which means something like looking into the past with fear or remembering painful thoughts? One would fit into this sentence I’m writing, and would add to it quite a bit, but I’m not sure what one would be.
Well first of all, it’s good not to overuse adverbs, and instead to try to, when you can, describe your character’s tone of voice and mood using their body language and actions.
For example you could say that they shuddered, or grimaced, or had a far-off look in their eyes.
I wish I knew a word out there that fits your description! If I think of one I’ll try and remember to pass it on to you.
Perhaps it would help if I showed the sentence I was writing.
” By this time he was completely covered in scars, things which would ____ remind him of this for the rest of his life.”
Generally I find when I use the word “things” (which I do a LOT) it means I should probably be using another word but I can’t remember what the correct word is. Maybe something like…
“By this time he was completely covered in scars, a vestigial, haunting reminder of what had just taken place.”
(“haunting” is the operative word here; “vestigial” is just a bonus word.)
Hmm…. ‘haunt’ is a good word. Perhaps I’ll put this to use. Thanks.
would “regretfully” fit the bill?
(courtesy of fortune cell)
How about Remorsefully? I’m not sure if that exactly matches what you are looking for, but it’s the best I can think of. ^^
Think I found what I was looking for. Thanks!
“By this time he was completely covered in scars, which would haunt him with this memory for the rest of his life.”
On the way to grad school and I found a Lizzie! Spontaneous kokon whee!
we went swimming in the hotel pool and talked a lot and it was fun. oxlin is a lovely person and I’m glad it worked out for her to stop here!
And I’m glad that Lizzie was able to drive out to my hotel! It was great to see a fellow MBer after a long day on the road. Lizzie is a good swimming and chatting buddy. I quite enjoyed our kokon!
I’m getting my wisdom teeth out on Monday, ugh. If those of you who have had yours out could share your experience so that I know what to expect (and therefore hopefully not die of anxiety), that would be great.
Luna once offered extensive advice about wisdom teeth:
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=14368#comment-485619
I’ll add on to what Luna said!
I had two wisdom teeth fully in on the top and two impacted on the bottom. I got all four out since without teeth on the bottom the dentist said the top ones would keep growing past when they should stop (and they had already started).
They are obligated to show you a video and thoroughly explain everything that could go wrong so I was really worried–mostly about dry socket (where the blood clot comes off early and slows down the healing process) because I’d heard it hurts a looot.
I went fully under and it was a very pleasant experience. They told me to count back from ten and I only got to seven. I woke up a little confused with a numb mouth full of cotton. I was prescribed painkillers and nothing else.
I followed the instructions to the letter, removing and replacing the cotton and keeping my mouth constantly on ice. I experienced little to no swelling because of the ice! And no dry socket, even though I was reduced to tears after I thought I had inadvertently removed one of the clots.
I stopped the painkillers after the second day. Even then the pain was more of a dull ache. You can’t brush back there for a week or so (I think) so you wash your mouth with saltwater instead to kill anything that might infect you.
Getting food stuck back there wasn’t as big of a pain as I thought it would be. The wounds were a little tender but it wasn’t a big deal to root it out with my tongue.
Also there won’t be holes there forever. The gum fills itself in, which is pretty cool.
Moral of the story: the majority of the time nothing out of the ordinary happens. Try not to worry too much. Good luck!
Addendum: Reading over Luna’s post again: I also had jaw stiffness for the first few days. AND NO STRAWS PERIOD FOR HOWEVER LONG THEY TELL YOU EVEN THOUGH THE DOCTOR WILL TELL YOU DON’T DO IT. The dreaded dry socket will come for you if you use a straw when you’re not supposed to.
My best friend had hers’ out recently: apparently the afternoons right after the procedures sucked but aside from that she recovered very quickly. So I’d recommend figuring out a distraction for that time, like (what worked for her) video games. Something low-effort though, since you might still be a little woozy.
Keep your face iced for a few days afterwards. When I got mine out, my sister’s violin teacher recommended using two sponges and a pair of pantyhose. You wet the sponges, wring them slightly so they’re not soaked and stick them in the freezer, then once they’re frozen you put them in the pantyhose and tie it aroud your head. The moisture from the sponges melting is minimal/evaporates as it melts, so you don’t have to deal with wet dripping everywhere. It looks ridiculous but feels great and helps a lot witth the pain.
Thanks, y’all! The whole process was way less unpleasant than expected (I remember nothing beyond like right after they put the IV in until they were finishing up the last tooth) (honestly putting in the needle for the IV was pretty much the worst part of the actual procedure)
I’m a little sore and swollen, but the tooth-holes themselves don’t really hurt much. I’ve got ice packs strapped to my face (they gave me this thing that’s essentially a fancier version of what fireh described) I was perscribed anti-inflammatory and pain meds (haven’t taken the pain ones yet, gonna wait until right before bed). I’ve changed the gauze twice (once because blood, again because eating).
Post-sedation me was giggly and immediately went I’M GONNA WALK NOW which was interesting because walking was not exactly something I was prepared to do.
Morning update: My face is very stiff but not too sore. I can’t really eat anything that involves chewing due to the aforementioned stiffness, but otherwise I’m doing pretty good! Apparently walking makes my face hurt more (?) so I’m in bed with ice on my face and watching Steven Universe.
Just keep the ice on and try to stay still.
Guys, is a man jumping from an exploding building onto a small airplane in a dream world too far-fetched for a story scene? Because my dad seems to think so.
unless i`m misunderstanding the question, i don`t see why it would be far-fetched. you said it`s in a dream world, right?
Well, if it’s a dream world, I would be okay with more improbable things happening than in the real world, especially if the person in question is a lucid dreamer and can control what happens to some extent.
Whatever utterly improbable scenario you invent, reality will usually beat it.
“Police were called after a mass brawl broke out in a pub car park between a group of morris dancers and a blind football team.”
That was a real story. Suffolk Gazette, if you want to look it up.
My mom and I had a nice visit to AMNH today, but I discovered to my great sadness that the Whitney Hall of Oceanic Birds is NEVER open just as itself anymore– even in the summer, when the Butterfly Conservatory is closed, they still keep the structure and signs up and just close the hall to visitors. I want to see the awesome South Pacific bird dioramas!
WILL/IS/WAS ANYONE WATCHING THE METEOR SHOWER TONIGHT?!?!?! OH MY CAKIN GOD IT WAS AMAZING I’ve never seen anything like that before. We all laid out towels on the beach and watched FREAKING ROCKS BURN UP IN THE ATMOSPHERE!!!!!! And at one point some people came out with a few of those lanterns with real fire inside that float and everything and the meteors going off in the background was just so exceedingly mesmerizingly indescribably beautiful that I was literally trembling with… whatever. And it’s still going on! I am in bed right now but if I look out the window just for a minute I can see one streak by. THERE ARE ROCKS FROM A COMET FALLING FROM THE SKY AND BURNING UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS JUST SO….. THERE’S NO WORD TO DESCRIBE IT!!! I can’t sleep.
Clouds are the reason I cannot have nice things.
I was out for about an hour last night, saw five or six cool fireballs with trails. One of the better meteor showers I’ve seen.
And with the new moon and everything… We really lucked out. This was the first meteor shower I’ve ever witnessed, and out here where I’m staying in Rhode Island we had a nearly spotless sky. Tonight, too! Not quite as many to be seen, but I was still able to watch a few rocks burn up in thin air. Clearly, the novelty hasn’t worn off quite yet.
I am in beautiful San Francisco! At least I’m assuming it’s beautiful, I’ve mostly just seen the inside of one BART car & a single street, so far. I didn’t get enough sleep last night because I had to write SOMEONE a sestina and i woke up at like 3am SF time (it’s now 4pm SF time) but I’m very excited to catch up with a CERTAIN PERSON tonight and a CERTAIN OTHER PERSON tomorrow. Will update you all as events progress.
Update: San Francisco is indeed beautiful, now that i have finally eaten something. And what great dinner company! None other than the esteemed POSOC himself has come to visit me, while I’m on his coast for approximately one night. We got Thai food and talked about similarities/differences in William Gibson’s/Neal Stephenson’s work, and of course the latest Imperial Radch news, which means it was pretty much the ideal meal as far as I am concerned. Now we’re posting on the internet!
Oh, you’re in the area! Seems like I missed you, I’ll only be heading up to the city on Saturday for the street food festival. Enjoy the Bay Area!
Aw, I didn’t realize you were here! Unfortunately, I am only here until 3pm Friday, when I’m going to a conference for the entire weekend.
And I will be departing Saturday morning, sorry to say.
What’s that, you say? I need to provide pictorial proof of our meeting? Well, never fear, my hotel room had some mirrors and my cell phone has a camera. The real thing we should take from these images is that POSOC is approximately a foot taller than me & refuses to explain why so it can be stopped.
In this one, we are trying to not make weird faces (despite all evidence to the contrary):
In this one, POSOC is staring nobly into the distance, as per usual, while I check my phone, also as per usual:
MYSTERIOUS STRANGER #2 HAS ARRIVED
Choklit Orange and POSOC and I are at my hotel but we’re going to go take some touristy photos before I have to catch a bus at 3pm today!
POSOC: Hello! San Francisco is beautiful and my friends are charming and accomplished. I have had many adventures with public transportation but all is worth it. More pictures forthcoming.
Chok: HEY HI HELLO ♥ I am in Dodec’s astoundingly well-designed hotel room and we need to leave in a second, but I thought I ought to confirm that both Dodec and POSOC are genuinely great people and I am so happy to be here. Touristy pictures will be forthcoming!
Pies to all!
I had a fantastic time with POSOC and Chok!!! Though Chok is also taller than me, a fact which I can’t help slightly resenting after exposure to both of them at once. (It’s okay, I love you so much anyway.)
Now I’m at a code retreat in the middle of a forest with very limited wifi, so don’t expect me to be able to say much until I get home. Rest assured that I am thinking of you!
I’m in the hotel again, about to hop on BART back to the airport (just as soon as I finish this coffee).
Chok – if you thought the other room was fancy you should have seen this one! The bathroom contains a glass cube shower AND a separate tub AND a fancy looking sink and that room alone is larger than the kitchen in my apartment back home.
(Have I mentioned how incredibly glad I am that I convinced my work to pay for this trip? Because I am so grateful.)
&:conf was great, I have yet to process many of my thoughts but I’m feeling really great about this trip and at least a tiny bit in love with san francisco.
POSTING FROM THE PLANE JUST BECAUSE TECHNOLOGY IS SO GREAT
That sounds like a great bathroom.
This evening I babysat one of my very favorite humans, who’s only just two and likes to open conversations with a run-down of all her latest owies. Tonight she had a pink mark on each cheek. The story, I finally managed to figure out, is that she put stickers on her face and they gave her owies when she took them off. Let this serve as a warning to us all!
oh man I just took my car to the carwash for the first time (I’ve only had a car since May and have done a long-distance road trip and many shorter-distance road trips since then) and it is AWESOME. It’s like a disneyland ride or something. It just drags you through and there’s spinny things and things shooting water in various patterns and dangling strips of cloth and creepy mannequins holding hoses and it was probably the most fun I’ve had in a really long time which is kind of sad if you think about it. But it was really really cool and I want my car to get dirty again so I can go through again! except I don’t want it to get dirty because it’s so nice and shiny now
Have you tried washing your car with one of those coin-slot hand-wash things? It’s a lot of fun too!
no, what are those?
You put in something like $3 into a machine and you can choose what the nozzle of the pressure-washer squirts — soap, water, waxing stuff, etc. It’s a lot of fun! Plus you get to focus on what you want clean. And you can see for yourself how filthy your car is because the water runs black when you clean it. (Or maybe that’s just me.)
I sometimes pretend my car’s dirty just so I can go through a carwash. Although most of the time, I’m not pretending.
i feel that this one guy is unwell. i know its stupid but i just have this really bad feeling about him, like he`s not okay. i really hope he`s okay. i`m not even his friend, he`s a famous person, but i`m stil worried about him.
I know that feel. One of my favorite comedians has always made self-deprecating jokes, but in his recent material they seem less like jokes.and more like he’s genuinely depressed and sees himself as worthless.
Hiiii I’m in a tea shop with Jade!!
HELLLOOOOOOO I FOUND AN OXLIN! This tea shop is super adorable. There’s little tables with cushions and a little waterfall rock sculpture. And it smells so nice!
Lovely! Geographically, where is this taking place?
Colorado. I’m here for grad school.
Funny, I’m in the state too.
I wish I was there!
There’s a purple martin roost a few blocks away from my house, and a few days ago my boyfriend and I walked down there and watched them come in for the night. Today we were taking the trash down to the curb and realized that you can see them from my house so we sat on the porch for a while and watched. It’s the funniest thing – with the naked eye you can see maybe 30-40, and then you put up the binocs and suddenly the sky is filled with swirling black dots as far as the eye can see. There were maybe 10-20k easily, all swirling and eddying and playing before they dropped down, whoosh, into the trees for the night. I grew up with a colony in my backyard so I love the way they sound.
You know, despite the stock parodies, I can’t remember the last time I saw nudity in National Geographic, a reference to Nazis on the History Channel, or a National Enquirer headline about aliens.
Aliens on the History Channel, however, are a different story.
I can remember when all of those clichés were true. The editorial changes happened very quickly and at different times. National Geographic was the first to change format, I think. Then the tabloids shifted their focus to celebrities (though Nostradamus still pops up every now and then). The History Channel remained the “Hitler Channel” until fairly recently, but I suppose demand waned along with living memory.
I think accurate modern parodies would be “The National Enquirer always has headlines about dumb celebrity scandals that probably aren’t true”, “The History Channel always has programs about aliens, rednecks, or conspiracy theories”, and “National Geographic Magazine is full of (oh my, this is hard, perhaps I’m too much of a fan to think of good criticisms)… ads for the Society’s other projects? (If we can make fun of Disney for synergy…) Exhortations to read the same thing on your iPad that you’re already reading in print?”
The whole state is burning and there’s smoke everywhere. The sun was a hot pink color today…eek!
Here was the sun in our neighborhood this evening:
Kind of scary, but also pretty!
Pink sun at morning,
Bunnies a-borning.
Pink sun at night,
Humans take fright.
So no matter when the sun is pink, we should be afraid?
Basically.
Are you sure that’s meteorologically accurate?
Museican mariners swear by it.
Well, seeing all that the Ship’s Logs have shown about how far they’ve sailed, far be it from me to doubt the Mariners of Museica.
“Red sky at night, Shepherd’s delight. Blue sky at night, Day”
Courtesy of comedian Tom Parry. Edinburgh Fringe.
The other day I got to watch a bagworm making it’s cocoon out of dead cypress leaves on a cypress bush full of little bagworm cocoons! They are just like the Pokémon Burmy! The boys turn into moths and the girls remain in their cocoons!
It’s very interesting! *is over excited again and should calm down*
man, I hate bagworms, they completely destroyed these two trees we had in front of our house and if you went outside and listened you could hear them eating. How they live and all is cool, though, I just hate their effects.
I’m sure nobody cares about the cypress bushes anyways, the ones that I discovered the tons of bagworms on. The mansion(I say that because my house is huge and this house is even larger)is abandoned. The owners of the house lost ownership of it and destroyed the porch steps and removed the airconditioners and probably did much more damage inside if the house. So nobody can use that house.
You know it’s August when the sun sets before 8 PM.
Mei Xiang the giant panda at the national zoo is in labor! Here’s hoping for a healthy jellybean of a baby.
That said, holy koko she looks so uncomfortable no way I am doing this any time soon
Agreed, looking at her profile she’s had some problems having kids before, but Bao Bao and Tai Shan ended up okay and are growing up just fine, so hopefully this cub will be the same.
Baby was born alive! Seems like a lot of effort for such a tiny thing.
Yay! As I learned from that refresher research I did, pandas aren’t named until they’re 100 days old, so the keepers have a while to observe the cub and en’s personality before choosing one.
okay, now there’s two cubs
Wow, all the better for an endangered species!
That’s amazing! The less endangered they are, the better.
One real quick question, probably a stupid one, but how did pandas become extinct?
I don’t think I understand your question? Pandas aren’t / as far as I know have never been extinct in the wild, but they are severely endangered. They’re endangered for a lot of reasons, including habitat loss and basically just being really bad at living – they eat bamboo but they evolved as carnivores (they don’t have any of the intestinal adaptations a lot of herbivores do, all their gut microbes are meant to digest meat) so they are basically giant pooping machines because they can’t digest most of what they eat. They breed very infrequently – I think the females are fertile for a period of something like three days every year, and given that they’re solitary animals the chance of encountering another panda on those three days isn’t great. Basically they should have gone extinct a long time ago and probably the only reason they haven’t is because they’re cute.
Urk! I meant Endangered! My mind wasn’t right at the time.
Also this is quite interesting information. Thanks.
All this talk about pandas and extinction made me think of a YouTube video by MinuteEarth (name ring a bell? Same guy who does MinutePhysics, if you’ve heard of that). Anyway, I think it’s called “Should We Let Pandas Go Extinct?”, or something like that. It was quite interesting, and I’d recommend it to anyone willing to watch it.
One of Mei Xiang’s twin cubs has died.
Let’s hope the other one makes it. If pandas have as many problems in the wild, it’s amazing that they are around at all.
In the wild, they sometimes have twins but are incapable of caring for two, so one is abandoned.
Oh, no
Hey, sorry I’ve been more of a lurker than a poster, but nothing really interesting has happened with me that I’d like to talk about. Except maybe for one thing; my parents are now in a court battle over my custody, started by my mom because apparently she’s changed her mind about letting me stay with my dad, in the home I’ve been in my whole life and where I’m happy. Not to mention that it was her first idea to let me stay home. Apparently because I’m sad about not having friends, and I wear the same shirt twice in one week, that counts as me ‘not being cared for right’ and an excuse to try to take me away from home.
I’m not all that worried, though. Dad said that he had a few things that would ensure that I would stay here. (he said I shouldn’t tell anybody, though, so sorry :raz: )
Anyway, on the brighter side, I think one of my fish might be pregnant. Also I have inspiration for an epic story about a music video (Metallica’s I Disappear, in case you’re interested) and I’m almost done with a neat-looking drawing. A pixel-art one. If anyone is interested in that, I think I can give out my Deviant username…. Right, GAPAs? Maybe not since I’m 13, but whatever.
Anyhow, that’s what ‘m doing. Best of luck on whatever you all are doing
DeviantArt? ‘Fraid not, CW. But if you send it to us, we can post it here.
It’s a GIF. Will that be a problem?
Nope. GIFs are jiffy.
Alright, then. Just let me get up enough courage to finish the background
I get to make videos at work! *is ever so happy*
So do I! Isn’t it fun?
I’m off to Melbourne tonight for a week!
Happy travels!
Currently in Gaithersburg, MD for two back-to-back bioinformatics conferences! So cool to be seeing what other people are working on. I’m shocked at how many people know about the tiny company I’m interning for — I feel somehow important yet insignificant as I muddle through conversations only knowing about 60% of what people are saying at any given time.
Hey I’m into bioinformatics too! Neato!
Yes, I think I knew that! The conferences I went to were the PacBio SMRT developers’ conference and the Genome in a Bottle conference. It was really cool to meet real leaders in the field as a mere undergrad intern. (I’m pretty sure I was the only undergrad there, if not then the youngest person there by far.)
Last week in NYC. My parents are coming up this weekend to pick me up and take me back to Maryland, where I’ll be at home for a week (the longest number of consecutive days I’ll have had off since March!) and then start my next job on the eastern shore.
I’ve liked living in New York so much more than I ever expected to, and I’m a lot less excited to leave than I thought I would be. I’m feeling a bit burnt out right now just from things being busy and not taking much time off, but I definitely feel like I’m not done with the city yet. I’ll have to come back to visit, maybe then I’ll actually get to sightsee.
My sister has a large Desmoid tumor on her chest… It’s a type of cancer… DX And my mom has to have her thyroid removed because there is a very high chance that cancer will grow on it and it hasn’t been working lately… I’m worried for both of them because both surgeries are in dangerous places.
I hope their treatments go well!
Okay, so, I have a cat now.
His name is Ib (Pronounced ‘Eeb’), and he used his litterbox already, so I think he’ll be a good cat.
What’s he look like?
(also, two hopefully unnecessary PSAs:
1. Everyone spray or neuter your pet! It is the Responsible Pet Owner thing to do.
2. Indoor cats live longer and are better for local wildlife, including fragile migratory songbird populations.)
He’s black with a white muzzle and paws. We guess he might be about a month and a half old. Give or take a few weeks.
Well, here we go, freshman year all over again– but NYU’s dorms have air conditioning!
I’m back at my parent’s house. I guess it’s home, but since it hasn’t really been my primary residence for the last 4 years, it doesn’t feel much like it. In a week I’m headed off to my next boat, I’m excited about that!
I don’t know how many of you have heard the story of the “Ourang Medan” before, it tends to get reprinted in books of sea stories, scary stories, or just plain “books of weird stuff”. (I first read it in an old children’s anthology of sea stories.)
If you haven’t, the ten-second summary goes like this:
Sometime in the late 1940s, a Dutch freighter called the “Ourang Medan” was sailing out of Indonesia* when it sent an SOS call. The radio operator on another ship, the “Silver Star”, replied, asking what the emergency was, only to hear his counterpart gasp out “The whole crew is lying dead in the chartroom. I die.” Then, there was only silence**. The “Silver Star” races to reach the “Ourang Medan”, but found the whole crew dead with faces that looked frozen in fear. The crew of the “Silver Star” returned to their own ship to report this, but as soon as they left the “Ourang Medan”, it caught on fire, exploded, and sunk, and with it any hope of answers…
* Indonesia was a Dutch colony from 1800 to 1949.
** In truest horror-movie fashion.
Pretty creepy, and if you look online, there are any number of sites speculating on how the crew died, with one of the most popular being that they were transporting a chemical or biological weapon that malfunctioned and killed them all in transit.
However, what you’ll also find is skeptical investigations of the story that can’t find any ship registered under the name “Ourang Medan” during the relevant period, and no accounts of the story that predate three Dutch-language articles in an Indonesian newspaper from February and March of 1948. The last of these articles ended with a statement that the newspaper didn’t know anything else and wouldn’t write more about the “Ourang Medan” (so please don’t write with inquiries), but that the story was certainly “a thrilling romance of the sea”.
Many have concluded that the story was a hoax created by the newspaper, and if this is the case, then something very interesting occurs to me…
If the story is really a newspaper hoax, then we have:
1) A fictional scary story…
2) …that was written and presented as real except for perhaps a wink at the end.
3) That others copied and reproduced elsewhere with no attribution to the original, so much that over time the original source became obscure.
4) Many of these reproducers of the story took it as fact even though the original version may have included that wink suggesting it was fiction.
So, in this scenario, could we say that the “Ourang Medan” was a 1940s creepypasta?
SFTDP
Oh my Kokopelli, the basement of the Strand Bookstore has this little corner where the aviation, space, and exploration history shelves are and it’s amazing. They have original copies of books by Richard Byrd and Sir Edmund Hillary and so many old 60s space books and Bertrand Piccard’s book about the Breitling Orbiter 3 and OMG the polar books…
The Earth Sciences section isn’t too shabby either, although they don’t have anything by the Kraffts in stock, so that’s a point against, but just a small one that could change…
(Also I bought a copy of “Fallen Giants” from the carts outside for five dollars.)
Somebody stop me from spending my entire graduate stipend there…
Not sure I can help you there – I was at The Strand a week ago and I think I spent upwards of $50 on books. In my defense: books are great, and The Three-Body Problem just won a Hugo. (I haven’t read it yet but I am so excited to!)
I meant to go to the Strand, but I never actually made it out there! Next time I’m in New York I have so much tourist-ing to do that I didn’t manage while I was there.
I guess I know where to look for you the next time I’m in Manhattan.